Ernie Cooke Handicap Squash Tournament

Dear [[firstname]],

The deadline for the Falmouth Sports Club's Ernie Cooke Squash Handicap Tournament is fast approaching. The deadline to sign up is 7pm Friday 12 April.

Registration fee is £5 payable behind the bar before your first match. You can signup online but you will still need to pay at the bar.

What is a Handicap and how does it work?

For those who are new to the sport or playing at Falmouth, handicap tournaments provide a level playing field where any participant has an equal chance of winning. Each player is ranked with the more skilled players requiring to win more points to win the game.

This works by assessing the players and providing a handicap number. The difference between the two handicaps determines how many more points the more experienced player has to achieve in order to win. See table below for examples.

The tournament is played over two weeks with the first round starting on Monday 15 April. the next round is on Wednesday 17 April, third round is on Monday 22 April and the Fourth Round (semi-finals) on Wednesday 24 April. Finals will be on Friday 26 April at 7pm. Each match will have a scheduled time to play for each round. Matches can be rearranged if needed, but must be played before the next round. It is a knockout tournament with a plate draw, if you lose your first match will you will go into the plate draw, so you are guaranteed a minimum of two matches.

Scenario 1 (Both Negative Handicaps)	Player A	Player B
Handicap	-12	-5
Starting points	-7	0
Starting points both increase until the first player reaches zero
Scenario 2 (Negative and Zero Handicaps)	Player A	Player B
Handicap	-20	0
Starting points	-20	0
Starting points do not change if one player is on zero
Scenario 3 (Positive and Negative Handicaps)	Player A	Player B
Handicap	-15	+3
Starting points	-15	+3
Starting points do not change if only one player has a positive handicap
Scenario 4 (Both Positive Handicaps)	Player A	Player B
Handicap	+3	+5
Starting points	0	+2
Playing starting points reduce towards zero until the first player reaches zero